I have been doing this on a weekly basis at Spiral Diner and it has
been very successful, but my next goal is actually putting some leaflets
in church reading areas for my St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day (October
4th) project. While I like passing out leaflets at the Christian events,
I think people taking it themselves has a better reading rate. Thanks
for all that you do!

I think there is good evidence for a kind of karma, but what I have
in mind is somewhat different from classic formulations. While it is
unclear whether the Buddha was referring to literal, life-to-life
reincarnation or moment-to-moment “rebirth,” many Buddhists believe in
reincarnation, and they hold karmic principles guarantee that happiness
or misery of a future life will be determined by behavior in this human
life. Further, fortunate or unfortunate circumstances in this life are
related to activities in previous lives. I don’t believe this, for two
main reasons. First, I know of no compelling evidence that it is true,
and I am disinclined to believe theories for which evidence is lacking.
Second, I think this theory lends itself to abuse. Those with power and
wealth can smugly claim that they deserve their privilege, and it
encourages those who are downtrodden to accept their positions as just
punishments for transgressions in previous lives. Therefore, this theory
readily lends itself to racism, sexism, classism, speciesism, and other
forms of injustice.

Many, but by no means all, Christians have a similar theory of karma.
This theory holds that those who act according to God’s will are
rewarded with everlasting happiness in heaven, and those who do not are
condemned to everlasting suffering in hell. As is true of the above
Buddhist formulation of karma, an appeal of this theory is that it
comforts people with the conviction that their faith in the face of
suffering will be rewarded and those who deserve punishment will
eventually get their comeuppance. I am also very skeptical of this
theory, in large part because I don’t find the evidence compelling.

I offer a modified notion of karma. I think that, to the degree that
people do harmful, destructive things, they alienate themselves from the
world. There is a part of us that recognizes that we come from the
earth, and we will return to the earth. We cannot find inner peace and
well-being until we are at peace with the ground of our being, the
source of our sustenance, and ultimately the destination of our bodies.
We would like to believe that God has particular care and concern for us
humans, over and above much of the rest of creation. While most nonhuman
beings live, struggle, often suffer, and die without obvious meaning to
their lives, we want to believe that our existence has an important
purpose in God’s plans. However, I think there is, nearly universally, a
persistent inner voice that raises doubts. This voice says, “You are
weak and vulnerable, and you will eventually die.” As self-conscious
creatures, the notion of non-existence can be terrifying. Is belief in
an afterlife simply a human psychological response to this terror, or
will we actually experience everlasting life? I suspect that, for many
people, doubts about our destiny disquiet their souls.

Some people respond to uncertainties about our ultimate destinies by
trying to have absolute certainty about things that they find comforting
but about which there is little empirical evidence. There are at least
two risks. First, if we assume a position of certainty, our convictions
will be immune to contradictory evidence. Such convictions can easily
lead to belief in absurdities and become blind to injustice. In my view,
one such absurdity is that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. Who in
their right mind would choose a lifestyle that often includes social
ostracism, rejection from family, inability to have children, and social
and workplace discrimination? Yet, it appears that people hold such a
view, evidently in order to justify condemning homosexuality because,
according to their reading of the Bible, homosexuality is a sin. A
second risk is that, to the degree that we separate ourselves from the
rest of Creation, we can feel alone and terrified in a vast, mysterious
universe. I will discuss the second problem, and a solution to this
problem, next week.